


In this moment, when everyone's asleep

by starberryjaems



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band), VERIVERY (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Based on Tag Tag Tag, Dongheon and Kangmin are brothers, Haunted House, Horror, How Do I Tag, Slight horror, Stan Dreamcatcher, Stan VERIVERY, Suspense, and Chase Me, background Bae Hoyoung / Lee Dongheon, because it's hard to not get inspired by these amazing concepts, dreamcatcher has superpowers, some are dead but not really dead, someone save the boys from this place, the rating is for swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25013017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starberryjaems/pseuds/starberryjaems
Summary: Kangmin thinks that bringing his friends to an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere is a good idea, it was originally, until he sees a pair of bare feet and a group of (semi) dead ladiesWill they be able to escape this endless game of tag? Escape this Nightmareorthe verivery gang gets trapped in a haunted house, being chased by a ghost and encountering a nice group of ghost ladies who helps them escape.
Relationships: Bae Hoyoung/Lee Dongheon
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	1. Let's play a game

**Author's Note:**

> title from Wake Up by Dreamcatcher
> 
> this entire thing is completely inspired by VRVR's Photo stage on RTK (and I forgot who said it but I think it was ONF?? said that they needed to buy dreamcatchers)  
> ANNNND BOOM! this happened
> 
> ohhh and who started another series without finishing the one she had made years ago??? this bxtch here
> 
> ok, give some love to the two groups, and if you have a little extra, please give this a try

Kim Yongseung have absolutely no idea why the heck was he tagged along with his noisy next door neighbour siblings (ie, the friends who lives the closest to him), to go to a rural area, to see a god damn abandoned house.

He stared at the messages sent to the group chat last night, sighing for the millionth time, oblivious to the youngest in the group.

_Hyungs!!_

_Look what I found_

_Kangmin, 22:49_

_We are not going back to that disgusting boat ride again_

_ISTG Kangmin please don’t_

_Dongheon, 22:50_

_[Link]_

_We’re all free tomorrow_

_why not take a chance to go somewhere historic_

_Kangmin, 22:51_

_It’s a haunted and abandoned house_

_Hoyoung, 22:52_

_I know right_

_there’s nothing more historic than old abandoned houses in the middle of nowhere_

_Minchan hyung, back me up here_

_You always say that going to history museums enriches the human mind_

_Kangmin, 22:53_

_I’m sure Minchan didn’t mean it like that_

_Dongheon, 22:54_

_I wasn’t asking you_

_Kangmin, 22:55_

And Yongseung slept after that, not waiting for his friend group to reach a good conclusion, because Kangmin was right, they were all free, it was a Sunday for god’s sake. Which by the time the sun rises the next day, Yongseung was dragged out of bed by an overenthusiastic Kangmin and out the door within 5 minutes.

Yongseung has yet to be fully awaken by his friend’s forceful entry, and he had heard Dongheon mutter ‘I have work the day after, why not let me rest?’.

But honestly, he was up for all, and I mean, _all_ shenanigans Kangmin has in store because he is a good, responsible older brother who loves Kangmin more than he actually knows, Dongheon doesn’t mind at all.

By the time they arrived at Gyeheon’s house, none of them were surprised that Dongheon is already koala hugging Hoyoung, and none of them were even more surprised that Yeonho crashed at Gyeheon’s place (ok, Kangmin was a little bit surprised but that wasn’t new, the entire world knows that Kangmin has a small crush on Gyeheon, all except Gyeheon himself.), those two were basically friends attached to the hip.

Which brings us to here, Kangmin leading the boys from the bus stop, walking through around 10 minutes of bushes and grass so tall they could loose Kangmin if they weren’t paying much attention. “And we’re here.” Kangmin pointed at the large abandoned brick house with a smile on his face. “The Villa owned by the Seven Sisters” He proudly says and Yongseung ruffled his hair with a smile.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go inside, the flies are killing me.” Minchan leads them into the house, waving his hand in his face when dust greeted him once he opened the door, “Huh, the lights are on… electricity still works in here? I thought it was abandoned.” 

Kangmin walks towards the staircase by the end of the corridor, “No?” he replies hesitantly, “This house has been abandoned for decades.”

“Unless there’s someone living here rent free?” Yeonho suggests, “All the stuff here are in good condition too. Kangminnie aren’t you sure that this place is abandoned?”

“Positive!” Hoyoung can hear the youngest shout while he looks at the family photo on the wall in the walkway, ‘They look so young,’ “Why would they abandon such a lovely house like this.”

“I’m thinking of the same thing, I would die to move and live in a place as big as this.” Dongheon sighs as he rests his head on Hoyoung’s shoulder.

The two eldest walked to the kitchen area where they find Kangmin being pushed into the cabinet under the sink, “Good, keep him in there, without him I can actually use hot water to shower.” Dongheon snorts and decided to ignore Gyehyeon’s “How poor are you guys” comment. (It’s a joke, they had a well functioning water boiler, is just that Kangmin takes absolutely forever to come out of the shower, their life wasn’t that sad.)

Then out of the blue, Kangmin shoves Dongheon so hard that he breaks the hold Dongheon he had with Hoyoung, with a cheshire grin he quickly runs away shouting “Tag you’re it!”, and before Dongheon can comprehend on what the actual fuck is going on, the others ran away in different directions, heading to the number of rooms this villa has with laughs.

Only when Hoyoung gives Dongheon a peck on his cheek and a soft “You’re it.” is when Dongheon comes back to his senses, ‘Of course Kangmin would initiate a game like this’ Dongheon pinches his nose bridge and sighs. But being the good sport he is, he quickly put on a smile and shouted “I’m coming for you all, dipshits!” before sprinting in a random direction in hopes to find his friends.

Little do they know, a mysterious figure snapped a photo of the eldest standing in the corridor, as the picture is produced, they huffed, capturing his soul in a photograph.


	2. And suddenly it's Night Time

Dongheon didn’t know that he had fallen asleep, heck all he remembers is that Minchan was blindfolded and trying to catch the others in a game of marco polo. He groans and looks for a clock, even though he wasn’t sure that if it works or not, but it’ll help him focus and ground himself for a bit.

He scans the room, it was covered in green, old Victorian wall paper which is still intact with no signs of it loosing it’s grasp against the wall, it still surprises him that almost everything in the house is in such a good shape. He sees the sky darken outside the window and he cursed, promising that if the others left him alone while they went back without him, he’ll sure skin them alive, maybe with the exception of Hoyoung.

And then he almost shouted when he saw a lady sitting on the arm chair next to the door.

“Good, you’re awake.” She says softly with a kind smile, “I’m sorry if i started you but you really do need to get up as fast as possible, for the sake of your friends.” 

And within seconds he was up, stunned, “Who are you?” was all that comes out of his mouth, “Why are you here and where are my friends?”

She quickly stood up and put a finger to her lips, she placed her head close to the door as if to hear what’s outside, her eyes shot wide as she went to grasp Dongheon’s wrist and quickly hid in the bathroom. “Climb up,” she mouthed while pointed at the ladder, “And please don’t make a sound.” She whispered every so softly and…phased out of the wall.

Dongheon, standing in the middle of the bathroom, still shocked and looked like a deer in headlights, was contemplating whether to listen to that weird wall-phasing lady or just go out the door and find his friends before his mother scolds him for going out so late, not that she would care so much about Dongheon.

The sound of someone colliding against the wall, with a hard ‘Thud’, was all it took for Dongheon to climb up the ladder in the bathroom, he would need to search about secret passages in bathrooms once he gets home.

He peaked to see that he was stuck in the crawlspace, but tall enough for him to sit upright, he quickly climbed and sit down in the crawlspace, hoping that the weird lady can come for him. Fear and adrenaline fills his stomach, was the reason why this house is so damn clean is because of serial murderers live and occupy this house? He didn’t have anything to defend himself with, let alone find his friends and Kangmin.

‘…oh shit, Kangmin!’ his dearest brother, the baby of his friend group, who knows where he actually is, the thought that he’d be helpless against the horrors of the world haunts him in his sleep.

As the commotion downstairs died down, Dongheon is greeted again by the wall-phasing lady, her white sweater stained with, ‘is that dried blood?’ and dust, her beret almost falling off of her head. “Yeah, I had some business to attend to. What ever you do, do not let that…thing touch you, look what it had done to me.” She rolls up her sleeve to show a plethora of nasty red lacerations, “I mean it’ll heal in a few minutes but it still hurts like hell.” she mouth forms a line as she rolls her sleeve down and fixes her beret, patting the dust off her sweater and on top of her long skirt.

“You’re gonna be alright with that? Do you need a bandage or something?” The lady smiles at Dongheon’s kindness. 

“Oh yes, I told you, it’ll be healed after a while, but I don’t think you carried bandages on you right.” She giggled slightly, her apples of her cheeks appeared and disappeared. “Oh, where are my manners, my name is Minji, the eldest out of all my sisters.” She outreached her hand, and Dongheon took it, trying to ignore her cold skin while introducing himself to her.

They can feel vibrations through the crawlspace and Minji again raised her finger to keep Dongheon quiet, when the vibrations stopped she directed him to climb back down to the room where he woke up in.

“We have to hurry, it might be back soon.” Minji opened the door and tilted her head in hopes that Dongheon would follow her. As the two (mostly Dongheon) wandered the corridors, Dongheon didn’t realised that this house was this enormous, it was even larger than what he had seen outside when he and his friends arrived him. It looked like a small villa, or just a large house, but now it looks to him that he’s moving around a large, but flat, hotel.

He didn’t notice that there were numbers on top of the many doors, but all of them had the same number of ‘808’, it sent shivers down his spine. He quickened his pace so that he is walking next to Minji and whispers, “Where are you taking me?”

“Someplace safe, someplace where it wouldn’t find us for the time being.” Minji said, with a shrug, and then leads him to turn another corner. 

“Have you seen my brother? Or any of my friends at all?” 

“Honestly no, you are literally the first soul I saw.” Minji puts her hand under her chin, “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any of my sisters either, not since you guys showed up.” Minji saw the worry and guilt on Dongheon’s face and quickly added, “I mean, it’s about time that I get them out of my hair. Don’t worry about them, they’ll be fine without me.” ‘I hope the same your friends.’ but she didn’t want to comment that.

* *

Gyeheyon didn’t know where he was, all that he know is that he is being pulled towards nowhere by a lady with a braid lying on her shoulder, “Shut up and hurry, the hallways aren’t safe, better just hide in a room before it finds us. Don’t make a sound.” She told him through hushed whispers, “If it hears you talk so damn loudly, it’ll catch up to us. And you don’t want that to happen.”

Gyeheyon stared at the walls, he stared at the carpet, it wasn’t the same place Kangmin and his friends went for earlier that day. He remembered the solid, non-carpeted floor, there was no paint on the walls and certainly not as many doors he is seeing now, he reached to grab his phone but when he had patted the pocket on his jeans, there was nothing. He probably dropped it while playing tag, or more likely dropped before or during being dragged by the mysterious lady in front of him.

Before Gyeheyon can have a chance to ask anymore questions, the girl pulled him so hard that he almost collided with the wall, he was about to retaliate on how harshly she was treating him when she gave him hard stare that made him quiet up. And when they were about to make a third? A fourth? Turn in the endless maze of corridors, she halted and raised her fist so fast that he thought that she would hit him square in the face. And in her hand, soon appeared a staff spinning in her hand, spinning so fast that it formed a shield for the two.

In front of them, was a shadowy, hallow figure slowly limped through the hallways, there was black smudge trailing behind it but also it followed like a gown of a dress. As the figure slowly turned the corner, fortunate that it didn’t see the two standing in the middle of the corridor. 

The thing that scared him was that, that shadowy figure blended in completely with the darkness of the shadows, and before his entire figure fused with the shadows, he saw the side view of it’s face resembled of a human’s under a black tight fabric.  
What shocked him so much was, it’s hands, were the only parts of it’s body with colour on it, the colour of flesh. 

The horrific image of the figure…that monster, was burned into his brain.

The girl quickly turned the doorknob on the nearest door and quickly entered, she flipped on the light switch and proceeded to turn on the bathroom lights and the lamp next to the bed.

“That thing right there, was the thing that you should be wary of. It hates brightness and lights, if the room is bright enough for it to have a small amount of shadows, then we should be more safer than on the outside.” The girl reminded him, Gyehyeon nods as he noticed that the lights in the hallways were flickering and he saw one died behind him a few minutes ago.

“Thank you,” Gyehyeon paused, in hopes of knowing how to greet her, “Yoobin, my name is Yoobin.”, “Yoobin-ssi, for helping me back in the hallway. My name is Gyehyeon if you’re wondering.”

“It’s nice to see another human for a while, especially a male.” She gave a dark chuckle and Gyehyeon tried to ignore the second comment.

“What do you mean, another human?” He asks wearily.

“Oh…” Yoobin pursed her lips together, “All the occupants here, besides you, aren’t human.”  
“However, all of us in here, aren’t really alive either. At least, not for me and my sisters.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear everyone gets a happy ending
> 
> (or at least closure but you haven't heard that from me)
> 
> here's my [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/redvelatine)


	3. This Game Continues 'till Dawn

Yongseung was sitting casually on the chair once he noticed that he couldn’t really open the door or the windows, so he assumed that his friends would stop playing a prank and just open the door so that he could go home, it was getting dark anyways.

While staring out the window, he saw the clouds…and they are not, moving? Normally the clouds would move even without that much wind. And then he was met with a pair of eyes.

A shout was ripped throughout his body and the person on the other side of the window look shocked and borderline offended. She franticly shake her head and waved her arms in a criss-cross motion in front of her chest, and she stepped into the room through the wall, causing Yongseung to shout even more.

She hissed through closed teeth and muttered something that Yongseung can recognise as Chinese, her eyes immediately look around the room as it started to shake violently. She slapped her clothed hand to Yongseung’s mouth to shut him up, and she quickly said, “We need to run, stop shouting, please.” She really stressed on the ‘please’ and bolted out of the door, running in any other direction she think its safe.

Yongseung stopped screaming when he needed his breath to keep up with the girl pulling him through the maze of green carpets and flickering lights, besides feeling the entire floor vibrating on the soles of his feet, he could hear the faint sounds of a person clapping. He wanted to stop to investigate on what that clapping is from, maybe it’s from the rest of his friends? But the girl didn’t give him any moment to stop and release her hold on his arm.

He had heard her mutter “Where is it? Where are you guys.” as they kept sprinting the halls, he had almost tripped when she guided him down the stairs and suddenly the walls were full of clocks ticking at different speeds and none of the hands are in the same position as the rest. It was disorientating.

She lets go of the Yongseung’s hand and pull on her hair in frustration, he heard her curse again in Chinese as she browsed the ticking clocks, the clapping sound growing nearer and nearer. She immediately locked eyes at a simple white clock and took it in her hands, Yongseung was startled when she violently slammed the clock on the ground and the glass cover top shattered into a million pieces.

The clapping was more apparent now.

Yongseung moved his gaze from the shattered clock to the girl continuously while her eyes were on the spot where the clock was, and suddenly a black hole appeared. She quickly held his hand and she outreached her other hand into the black, glassy void. As a black, transparent turned the corner and saw the two, the girl quickly said to him “Turn on all the lights, just turn them all on and you’ll be safe.” And she slammed him into the wall.

Yungseung waited for the hard and painful impact but he was greeted with a feeling that he was being pushed into a pool. However, he wasn’t wet or felt the rush of water penetrating his body, but he was in another room, a dark room, like the ones he saw in the photography club. 

He quickly remembered what the girl said and he saw a light switch, the room lit up slightly and he looked around for more light switches to illuminate the room. After he had done so, he only thought that the room was just a bit more illuminated than that of the corridors.

He leaned again the wall and soon, realised that there were no windows or door, “Not this again.” He groaned. He was again trapped, and maybe his only way out was the girl he was with a moment ago, who shoved him through a weird ass black hole and told him to open the lights.

Minutes after, the girl fell through the wall with a thud, her leg covered in a nasty colour with blisters and blood dripping down, a part of her red skirt torn. “You see the fabric over there,” she pointed at a bookshelf, there were white strips stacked upon on another, Yongseung grabbed on and quickly wrapped one around her leg, covering her wounds as she hissed at the pain.

“Thanks, by the way.” She sighed, “That bastard grabbed me by the leg,” she throws her head back to suck in another breath, “My name’s Handong.” 

“Yongseung” he replied quietly.

“We have to find my sisters, or just crash into one of your friends before it catches them, who knows what’ll happen if it touches a human husk.”

* * *

The last thing Yeonho remembered was him stumbling into a room with a wonky TV on the floor and seeing the footage that sent cold shivers to his spine.

He saw the footage of all seven of his friends entering the house, from the angle he thought that it was from the front porch, before he could call his friends to check out the video with him, the room was shaking and he saw the room spinning again and again until he blacked out.

The moment he woke up he know he was moved to a different room, the small tv was still there but on a table, the walls decorated with animal heads and lined with mirrors. Yeonho moved closer to the TV and tried to turn it on, “That’s weird…I swear,” and he patted the tv in hopes that it would turn on.

Then the door bursted open with a force so hard it sent Yeonho crashing towards the wall. His back ached by the sudden push, he tried sitting up and he saw a black shadowy figure in the doorway, with fleshy hands in front of his transparent body.

The figure clapped once, catching Yeonho’s attention, and he clapped again, this time showing Yeonho it’s yellow eye, a single eye, not eyes. 

Yeonho blinked to make sure that his friends weren’t behind the monster to scare him, they weren’t behind it.  
“Guys, this isn’t funny.” He tried to force a laugh so that his friends can show up and say that it was a prank. But the beast continued to step forward, each step accompanied with another clap.

It’s hand raised up and pointed at him, a sly smile appeared on the monster’s face, Yeonho still hasn’t gotten up from is position on the floor, he wanted to crawl and ran away from it but his entire body was glued to the wall.

Before the monster’s finger could touch him and open it’s mouth to speak, Yeonho could smell smoke and hear the faint sounds of a fire crackling. Fire soon engulfed the beast, making it voice out sounds of pain, but the voice emitted from it sounded familiar, it sounded like…

“Come on, what are you doing. Run goddamn it.” He can hear a girl’s shout breaking his thoughts, he could see her standing outside the door, her composure jittery and jumpy, “Come on!” She called again, her hand telling him to exit the room.

Yeonho finally could move his limbs again and dashed out of the room, “But, but my friend…”

“That thing isn’t your friend,” she said as she walked across the hall, and once they turned a corner she snapped her fingers, the entire corridor was lit on fire, “The fire would buy us some time, it will need time to recover. I might just saved our asses.”

He studied the girl walking next to him, her hair was down and dressed in black and white stripes. He noticed that the walls were white and lit dimly by the flickering lamps lined along the wall, the smell of smoke still lingering in the hallways. Yeonho noticed that the girl pulled out a marker of sorts, and marked it whenever they make a turn. 

“Are we, stuck in a loop?” Yeonho asked when he saw the same indicator for the third time.

“Yes,” The girl paused, “and no, this house is very wonky and weird ever since you guys came by, it only happened when there’s people entering the house. It just sucks, but be grateful that we have no intentions in hurting you.” Yeonho stopped dead in his tracks and looked at the girl in disbelief. 

“For gods sake, I said that I won’t hurt you. In fact, me and my sisters need your help actually.” She walked back to where Yeonho was standing and tugged on his sleeve, “That sound you heard from that thing, wasn’t your friend trust me.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “The name is Siyeon and we do need to get moving,” and he have heard her mutter, “I need to get to Gahyeon soon.”

Yeonho was following Siyeon as they walked down more endless hallways, but the shout from the thing still haunting his mind.

That voice sounds awfully like Kangmin’s. 

* * *

Hoyoung was stuck in room with a girl sitting on top of the bed, a big fluffy teddy bear in her arms, her eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration. There was another vibration sent throughout the room, somehow it was a silent agreement that they shouldn’t open the door, much of less leave the room.

She gripped on the eye of the teddy bear and forcefully pulled it out, leaving the stuffed animal without an eye.

“Your… friend should be safe for now.” She said between hooded eyes as if she is trying to stay awake, “We have to leave this room, it’s coming close, we have to.” Before she could take a few steps after leaving the bed, her body swayed and almost clashed with the wall if Hoyoung didn’t catch her in time. “Thank you, but we really have to get out of here. I’ll lead the way.” She opened the door and started dragging her hand across the wall in order to hold her upright.

“Here, I’ll help you.” Hoyoung’s maternal instincts kicked in and draped the girl’s arms over his neck, and they started walking down the hallway.

Hoyoung thinks that he had a faint memory of seeing the girl before, most likely from the family photo plastered on the walkway back when they first entered the house, he thinks that she was the youngest by the looks of it, long back hair with a buttoned dark navy dress, smiling while talking to the others in the same photo, playing with the same stuffed bear in the photo.

Down the long hallway, he had heard the loud slams of doors smashing into the wall, as well as faint clapping echo through his ears, “It’s getting closer, take a left here.” She pointed and Hoyoung took the turn, and then they were faced with a wall of clocks.

“Handong unnie must’ve got into the room,” He had hear her mutter.

As they walked down the corridor, Hoyoung noticed that there was a broken clock on the floor, the glass layer smashed too smithereens. And then there was a glossy like black hole in the middle of the wall, Hoyoung had definitely saw it ripple and suddenly a hand reached out of the black abyss.

“Gahyeonie!” A female voice cried from the other side, “It’s Handong, quick, get in here.”

Gahyeon, ‘That was her name,’ Hoyoung had thought, was trying to keep her eyes open, said “How can I know that it’s Handong unnie?” 

Within moments of Gahyeon asking, the music of a pipe of some kind greeted their ears, but then it attracted the clapping from a few corners over. “Take him first.” Gahyeon said weekly as she pushed Hoyoung towards the hand, who then pulled him towards the hole.

Once Hoyoung exited the opened his eyes, he was glad to see Yongseung right next to him. “Oh my god, how glad am I to see you for once in my life.” The younger said as he embraced Hoyoung. Hoyoung was also relieved when he saw Gahyeon passed through, although she fainted immediately into the arms of, what Hoyoung thinks, is one of the sisters.

“What did she do?” She asked Hoyoung, hugging the younger girl in her arms, swiftly checking if she had any injuries. She sighed as Gahyeon didn’t have any, in contrast the other’s bandaged leg.

“Um, she pulled out the eyes of a stuffed teddy bear?” Hoyoung replied and he looked at her leg, “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Handong is fine for now, we’re ok now.” Yeungseung replied for her, “She said that this room is safe from,” he was lost for words.

“That clapping, is from a ghost trapped in here with us. It’s never good to hear clapping in this house.” Handong said, while putting down Gahyeon on the couch, “But thanks for keeping her safe, she was never alone by herself for a while. Where did Bora ran off?” She trailed off.

Hoyoung suddenly remembered when he first wake up, he saw a undeveloped photo in the room where he woke up in, Gahyeon had told him that she had no clue what that photograph was but she does have a hunch that one of her sister does. He quickly pulled out the photo and showed it to Yongseong, who replied in a gasp.

He looked at Yongseung with a puzzled look on his face as he pointed at the photo, “Yongseung, there is nothing on the photo.” He tried to give him smile as he turned the photo.

The photo is developed , and it shows the picture of Dongheon, moments before they started the game of hide and seek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh yes, more words!!!
> 
> [come scream at me](https://twitter.com/redvelatine)


	4. The moonlight is dangerous

Minchan was blindfolded, his friend’s laughter ringing in his ear as they clapped. “Marco!” He called out.

“Polo!” He heard Kangmin reply with another laugh.

Under the blindfold he could see his friend’s shoes, it gave him an advantage as he charged towards the direction, he could hear Hoyoung crackling in laughter as he he nearly slipped pass the grasp of Minchan. He turned and shouted “Marco.” again, although the response wasn’t as much as before, he didn’t mind.

This round of ‘Marco-Polo’ had gone on for a while now. And for sometime, he saw a bare feet under his blindfold. ‘Probably one of his friends playing tricks on him so that they won’t be it’ was the thought running through his head. The sounds of his friends had died down little by little, just a pair of feet waiting staying on the same place.

“Ok, not funny guys.” He gave a chuckle as he pulled off his blindfold, only to know that he was left alone in the same room, his friends disappeared out of thin air, even the pair of bare feet Minchan saw just a moment ago vanished. He looked at the room again, it looked different from where he was before.

He sees a staircase behind him leading upstairs, ‘That’s weird?’. Minchan distinctively remembers that there was only one staircase in the house and it was by the kitchen, not in the middle of the room like this. He looks to the side, theres a corridor and a few steps leading to a large open room. There’s an old styled sofa, the wall behind was painted a muted grey and draped with dark green curtains, the opposite of the sofa stands a tripod.

‘That’s…really old.’ He thinks to himself, he knows his way around cameras and such equipments and he can tell you that that tripod is really outdated. Minchan tries not to eye at it longer before he starts to move upstairs.

He slowly called out the names of each of his friends, hoping that it would bring out his friends back to him, laughing about on how this entire thing is a prank. But how could they move him into a entirely new room without him knowing. Minchan slowly walked up the stairs once he saw that he was in the basement, he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t scared at all.

He walked through the hallways warily, again still calling out for his friends. Minchan was getting spooked on how dark the corridors were and how endless they were, the floor covered in a green carpet, the walls painted in an ugly green colour and plastered with mirrors separate to each other by a few meters.

He turned a corner and jumped when he saw Kangmin at the end of the hallway, his body half covered by the shadow and a blank smile on his face.

Minchan gave out a relief sighed and smiled, “Kangminie! Thank god I found you, come on, let’s go find…” his voice wavered as he saw a pair of hands appearing next to Kangmin. It clapped twice, making Minchan froze at his spot, “Kangmin, this isn’t funny. Come on, we have to find…”

And then he saw the fearful look in Kangmin’s eyes but his smile still remained blank, it was borderline creepy. It was the first time he saw such a look, such fear and such helplessness, in Kangmin’s eyes, as if telling him to run and get away from him. It was then Minchan know something was wrong, his gut was telling so, but it didn’t stop him from moving towards Kangmin in hopes that, this was still, a harmless prank.

Before Kangmin can open his mouth, suddenly a girl jumped through the mirror and pulled him by his arm. “That, isn’t your, friend.” She said between breaths as they bolted down the corridor, “We, have, get, away, from, it.” 

Minchan looked back towards where Kangmin was, but he wasn’t there anymore. However there was a dark figure creeping up onto them. Then he saw, the figure with two bright yellow eyes and a creepy smile facing at him, as if it was trying to eat him up and catch him like a game of cat and mouse.

Minchan couldn’t hear what the girl said under her breath but he know that she calling a name. They were running for what was like hours, but the thing was still hot on their heels. It’s disturbingly real hands catching up and almost grabs Minchan.

Then, a piercing cry of pain erupted from the beast. Minchan could see it’s hands covering it’s eyes and it halted in the corridor, wailing in discomfort. What it had said shocked Minchan to the core.

“Minchan hyung! It hurts!” 

Minchan almost tugged to get rid of the grip the girl had on his arm and go tend to his young friend to hug him when he fell down the bike that one time and scraped his knee. Telling him that it was fine, telling him that the pain will go away.

“Listen to me.” The girl had a more harder grip than before and stopped in the middle of the hallway, “That thing isn’t what you think it is. That sound, wasn’t from your friend. Believe me, just trust me on this, we have to keep going.” And without giving Minchan time to reply, they are sent off running down the hallways again. “I’ll explain when we find the others, please.”

They again walked through the halls now once they went up two flights of stairs, Minchan hadn’t feel the floor shake as much as when they encountered that…thing with Kangmin’s voice. “Do you have a name or?”

“Bora, it’s Bora.” Bora replied while fixing her red beret, “How about yours?”

“Minchan. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, but it’s definitely not that nice for any of your friends to meet us at all.” She chuckled slightly.

“Why is that?”

“You really want to know?” She asked with her head tilted, Minchan nodded in response, “Me, I, and all the other people in this house, are dead. We are not alive.” 

Minchan’s eyes darted as he comprehends the words from Bora’s mouth, “What do you mean by dead?”

“We’re dead dead. As in not alive.” “Yeah I know but—“ “You are seeing a trapped spirit and an angry ghost, well you will be seeing a lot of loss spirits when you meet my sister but thats not the point.”

“BORA!!” Suddenly a female voice shouted and Bora was crashed with another girl dressed in black and white, “Holy heck, are you ok?” As the girls are talking, Minchan was absolutely relieved when he saw Yeonho with the other girl.

“Hyung!” Yeonho said softly, taking Minchan into a hug. “I’ve been walking with Siyeon there,” He pointed at the girl next to Bora, “For who knows how long. The moon and clouds doesn’t seem to move at all, it’s creeping me out.”

Minchan looked outside the window, Yeonho was right, nothing outside was moving, not even the slightest movement of wind can move the leaves outside. He walked towards the window still and looked outside, that wasn’t the place they were in just hours ago. Someone had moved them.

They saw a large courtyard outside the window with a gate at the very front, he peaked down and he noticed that they were on the third floor of the mansion, the walls outside were pearly white and laced with green leaves and vines, not the brick walled villa they ventured.  
“Where are we?” Minchan asked the girls, who looked back at him with a sad expression.

“You’re stuck in our mansion, and trapped with a bloodthirsty ghost.”

“We’ve been dead for centuries.”

* *

Kangmin thought that he had hid in a shitty place, who would think that hiding in the closet was a good hiding place. He had kept his laughter when he heard friends running through the halls, trying to find a suitable finding place before Dongheon could find them in this game of hide and seek.

He counted the minutes he had been stuck in there, and he continued to wait for his brother to find him. Kangmin is starting to feel sleepy after being locked in the closet for so long, the air becoming a little bit stuffier than before and he took off his yellow converse about 10 minutes into the game. Why you ask? Because Kangmin was tired.

He could’ve just open the closet door and hide somewhere else, but risking the chance that he won’t be the winner of the game of Hide & Seek? Kangmin would rather stay in the closet, thank you very much.

His heartbeat ran fast as he saw Dongheon enter the room, he held his breath when Dongheon was just a step away from opening the wooden closet, revealing the younger in his hiding spot. But he heard a camera shutter and then he heard footsteps leaving the room.

Kangmin wondered, ‘That was easy.’ and kept a smug smile on his face, he wasn’t going to loose in this game today. He peeked through the blinds again and he saw nothing. ‘Yes, I’m gonna win!’

Suddenly Kangmin can feel the room spin and shake, so violently that the metal rod in the closet fell down next to Kangmin causing him to scream. Then the room started to shake even more, Kangmin tried to push the closet door but it didn’t budge for a single bit, he was locked in, with no way out.

He started to shake and tremble with the thought that he would be stuck in here. He should’ve stepped out when he saw Dongheon, He shouldn’t started the game of hide and seek, he shouldn’t have let his curiosity get over his head and lead his friends into this as a domed house.

Kangmin regrets his decision. He kicked the door from his instincts but again, it didn’t budge. When the room remained still, Kangmin looked through the blinds and saw a pair of feet. Before he wanted to shout for his friends to open the damn closet.

It stepped closer to him and has it hands on the closet handle, when it was about to open. Kangmin heard a girl shout and the figure in front of the closet was forcefully slammed against by her, causing the figure to clash into the wall. The closet was immediately opened and Kangmin was greeted by two girls, one shorter wearing a dress and another one taller girl in shorts.

“Yoohyeon, take him and run. Get him out of here. I’ll buy you time.” The girl in the dress told the other and her gaze stared at the mysterious figure by the wall, her fingers snapped, sending fire sparks towards it. Kangmin wanted to get a closer look at it but he was immediately dragged by the hand by the taller girl, who he assumed is Yoohyeon, and they sprinted away from the room.

“But, my shoes.” 

“Who the fuck cares about your shoes, just run. We need to get you and your friends away from him.” The girl shouted back.

Kangmin looked around him, the walls were changing it’s colour, from the worn down walls coated with grey colours and changing towards the walls being covered in green wallpaper. His feet feeling the cold concrete floor and sometimes feeling the soft carpet.

He sees the corridor becoming longer and the door towards the outside becomes farther again, Kangmin’s head spins.

Yoohyeon looked back and her eyes widen in fear, her breath hitched as she pulled Kangmin so fast that he almost tripped because he can’t catch up. “Hurry.” She cries, her arm reaching out to grab the door know just meters in front of them. 

Between the glitches, Kangmin swears that he saw Hoyoung running away from Dongheon, and then the walls stopped glitching. All Kangmin can see was the endless walls and mirrors. “Where are my friends.” He tried asking Yoohyeon as she turned the doorknob, “They are still inside.” Yoohyeon still ignored him and kept running through the courtyard, ‘wait, there was no courtyard? Where are we?’

“Hey!” Kangmin called to Yoohyeon again but was ignored, their running didn’t stop. Kangmin started to struggle against her grip on him, “Let me go! My friends are still in there!” He kept struggling and he was met with pleading eyes of Yoohyeon, “My sisters will get them out, but first you need to leave.”

“No!” Kangmin swung his hand and Yoohyeon lost her hold on him. “We have to go back, my friends are still inside. My brother is still in there!” He cried, his body not facing the vila he brought his friends into, but the three storey manor.

Yoohyeon’s eyes become wary, her body jumping as her nerves tells to keep running, she kept peering behind Kangmin, looking back and forth between the door where they left and him. “I’m sorry, but we need to keep moving, before it gets to you.” Yoohyeon tried to grab his arm as she turn around, continue to face the exit gate ash the end of the courtyard. “I’ll try to explain once I get you out of here.”

Yoohyeon was frozen in place when she heard a camera shutter.

“No!” She yelled as she looked back, the shadowy figure looming over Kangmin, it’s finger extending to touch the boy. 

With a deep voice, it called out to him

“Tag, you’re it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woohoo, the pairs are set and we're ready to head to part 2...
> 
> also I'm so sorry for not updating last week, I...just forgot >;, also I have to apologise that the upcoming chapters may or may not be that boring?? just so you know  
> and I'll be updating twice next week to pick up the pace!!


	5. The Lights disappear bit by bit

Handong took the photo from Hoyoung’s hands, and cursed loudly. Her frustrated atmosphere sends to the boys, she groans and furrows her brows, starring at the walls as if there were something new to it.

“Better thank what ever deity out there for him to drop this down. It’s not like him to leave his photos on the floor like garbage.” 

“You know something about this?” Yongseung asks, pointing at Dongheon’s photo. “Just tell us anything please, we are so lost.”

Handong clipped Dongheon’s photo onto a string on the wall, “That thing, chasing us down, doesn’t want us to find any of his photographs. All the occupants had their photo taken once before being trapped in here forever.”

“He could’ve taken photos of all of you already,” Gahyeon stirs as she sits up, “If you are here and not back where you once were, he must’ve have your photos. We better wish that he didn’t keep any to himself.” 

Handong walked to Gahyeon and rubbed her back, “You guys could be our one way ticket to end our nightmare.”

“So let me get this straight,” Hoyoung says, “That some guy took our photos, and we have to find it. That’s it?” Hoyoung looked at Yongseung and he replied with a shrug, “Couldn’t be that hard right?”

“It definitely is, that clapping was him. If he touches you, I don’t think any of my sisters know how to get rid of him and leave your body sane.” Gahyeon said carefully, trying not to slur her words as she wakes up from her throbbing headache. “But then, we don’t know what to do even if we have your photos.” Gahyeon glanced at Handong, “I think Minji and Siyeon unnie have a hunch or so, or even Yoobin unnie too.”

“Then lets go find them?” Yongseung suggested, Hoyoung nodding in agreement, “The faster we know whats going on, the faster we leave this place.” 

“I’ll go find them, you two stay here with Gahyeon.” Handong gave a smile, patting Gahyeons back in comfort, “Don’t strain her with too many questions, she needs time to recover.” Then Handong exhaled with a ‘huff’, closing her eyes and took in a deep breath, her hands shaking slightly as she walked to the black hole where they had entered.

When she opened her eyes, they were completely black. And then she stepped through the void, leaving the three in the room.

“What was that?” Hoyoung asks, shaking with the shivers he have when he saw the change in Handong’s eyes.

“That’s what she has, almost all of my sisters have something with them. Handong unnie can see all over the mansion, though she is afraid of it, I have what is similar to voodooism?” Gahyeon replied hesistantly, “Remember that bear,” Hoyoung nods. 

“You ripped it’s eye out.” 

“That bear was extended to him,” she said with her hands, hoping that it would help Yongseung to visualise what happened, “That thing chasing your friend, I literally blinded him.” Gahyeon said matter-of-factly, her tone hinting her pride, “Although I think he’ll heal, but damage that intense has to take a while.”

“So, if one of you gets there arm ripped off, you can just sew an arm back to something and they’ll be fine?” Yongseung asked, Hoyoung stared at him as if Yongseung said something offensive and stupid, ‘Please tell me your joking.’

Gahyeon just laughs.

“No, I can’t do that. Minji unnie couldn’t do that either.” She wipes her tears, still laughing. 

* * *

“Nobody comes around here, do they?” Dongheon asks as he and Minji round the corner.

Minji shakes her head, “No, only a few, but not a lot of them do leave this place.” she sighs, her and her sister had seen all the poor, unfortunate souls who wandered into the house, intentionally or accidentally. Dongheon and his friends are no exceptions, but perhaps they can help them this time. “One did leave, alive, but he wasn’t the same person when he came.” 

“What happened?” 

“I believe he was an investigator? A spiritual medium? A ghost hunter? I forgot. He was here for a while, we were fortunate that the thing that was after us, wasn’t around? Perhaps Gahyeon maimed him again, maybe thats why he wasn’t after him, but thats not the point.” Minji looked at the floor and around the walls, “We just wanted him out of the house so badly that we resulted in scaring him to leave. But there is something more to that.”

They walked in silence again for a while, Minji looking at the walls cautiously and twisting the buttons to make the lights brighter, ‘Not that it would help much but it’s better than nothing.’ She thinks. She had remembered when she first woke up in the mansion, she knew she had died but she was still there, locked in the house.

She had searched franticly to find her sisters, it took her two days to finally see Gahyeon and it took her a month to finally regather with all 6 of her sisters. Minji never thought that her house was this huge, with everlasting and endless hallways, the moon never setting, the way she knew time was when she pasted the wall of clocks, where her sisters found their hiding spot where their caretaker doesn’t even know about, even when they’re alive.

Minji had the least bad encounters with the monster, with him. She had the ability to heal herself whereas her sisters do not, all of her sisters can phase past walls but it wouldn’t help them loose the monster who’s always on their tail. It blended to the shadows so well that it was hard to notice unless you are trapped with it, Yoobin tried it once and it took her weeks to be able to leave their hiding spot.

She had wondered, their hiding spot was the dark room, but why did the thing didn’t know about it, it could simply jump at them without notice. It was irony that he didn’t know the place, albeit it would be the best place for it to rest or attack the girls without any of them noticing.

“How did you find us in the first place?” Dongheon looked at Minji, “How did you even know we stumbled into this place?”

“Honestly, none of us knew that you were in there. I mean we did sense that something was off when you guys entered.” Minji replies, “But if you’re here, he must have gotten to you once. One of my sisters noticed that there are new people in the house, first it was one, then two, then all seven of you. No human should be trapped here with us, and since scarring the hell of you didn’t work, we might as well just help you guys escape the nightmare.” She gave another sigh and looked outside the window as they pass, the moonlight shining brightly, as if to cure Minji’s sadness of not being able to find a way of escape for her new found friends, “Because, when that ghost hunter left the mansion, he didn’t show up for months. My sisters and I thought we’d finally lost him, although we weren’t contempt that we are still stuck in here.” “We know how dangerous for you humans to face him, let alone being chased by him for eternity until your body gives up and gets stuck in here.”

“Thanks for the hospitality, I guess.” Dongheon replies shyly, “How are we going to find your sisters and my friends in this maze?”

“We’ll see, just hope that it isn’t looming around here. But let’s not talk about it for the time being.” She gave him another soft smile and kept walking down the corridors. 

It was another minute? Or was it an hour? Dongheon didn’t know. He didn’t have his watch on him and his phone has miraculously gone missing, even if he has his phone he doesn’t whether theres signal in this…mansion. He wonders, and hopes desperately, that Minji’s sisters have at least found all of his friends, especially Kangmin, ‘The others can fend for themselves,’ he thinks coldly but realistically, deep down he is most worried for Kangmin ( again, Hoyoung is placed below him just for a little.) 

“Do you remember how did that guy leave this place? Perhaps this can give us a clue on how we can escape.”

Minji returned with a hum, “I keep thinking, there is actually more than scaring him. Oh yeah, Gahyeon pi—.” She got cut off when she heard someone calling out for her. The pair looked behind them and saw a girl half phased through the wall, a smile of relief hanging on her face, glad to see them, or Minji mostly. “Yoobin!” Minji grins as she dashed to her sister.

The girl, Yoobin, disappears from the wall and exits by the door. Dongheon smiles as he sees Gyehyeon trailing behind her. “My god, you’re ok!” Dongheon says with relief, “Are you ok?”

“Good, I guess. One close call with that thing, but other than that, I’m good. But hyung, you should see Yoobin’s stick! It’s like it’s magic or something.” Gyehyeon points at the other girl.

“It’s not a stick, it’s a staff.” Yoobin raises her hand and drops in one swift motion, a silver rod magically appearing between her grasp, “It could be anything it allows to be, a sword, a shield, a knife. The only thing important about it is that it can protect us from him.” And then she drops the staff, making it disappear in thin air.

Then, there it was, the faint sound of clapping, causing the two sisters to freeze up. “We have to go, we have to find the dark room.” Minji whispers as she leads them down the hall, the others following suit, Yoobin tailing behind the group.

They walked in silence, the clapping had not abandoned them yet, it was prominent yet vague. The sound surrounding them like an eagle in the sky, waiting for a perfect moment to pounce on them and attack.

Adrenaline rushes through Gyehyeon’s veins, his heart hadn’t stopped pumping when he first heard the annoying beat, it was even a thousand times more annoying and fussy than the kisses Kangmin enforces. He feels like that many days have passed inside this place, he feels tired although he just meet Yoobin and acknowledges the situation hours ago, it was like the energy in his soul is being pulled out like a loose thread, slowly pulling until it reduces to nothing but dead space.

They heard Yoobin curse as they saw the lamps in front of them started blow out one by one, making the already dim hallway even more darker. They heard Minji hiss, her eyes looking around the hallway for rooms to retreat to, there was nothing in the hallway but lamps, windows and mirrors.

They were alone against him, with nothing and nobody to protect them from him.

Of course, Minji and Yoobin could phase through the walls to escape their predator, but they have to keep the boys away from his clutches, the boys now becoming a asset in helping them end this nightmare.

“Is there anything that we can do?” Dongheon asks with a hush.

“Don’t let him touch you, not even a hair.” Said Minji.

“Run.” Said Yoobin.

They still continue to move, Minji hopes that they could seek shelter before they encounter him. But like how the world works, not everything can go by accordingly. 

The walls vibrating, the floor started to shake and the lights flickering, “It’s close.” Yoobin warned with clench teeth, her staff in hand, twirling as a soft red hue illuminated from it. (Gyehyeon wanted to make a Star Wars reference but this wasn’t the time.) 

Then suddenly, a pair of hands appeared right next to Dongheon and clapped. Dongheon screamed and fell, his back stuck to the wall. Before the hands can reach either Gyehyeon or Dongheon, Yoobin yells as she whacks the monster with her staff. She could feel that her staff have made contact with a part of him, hopefully his head. 

Before the hands and the rest of the body completely faded to the shadows, Minji yanked Dongheon up from the floor and started to run, the others following suit. “We have to outrun him, or just make it in time to hide in a room.” Minji said between breaths, she focused on her pacing, as well as her surroundings, analysing the simplest change in the hallways and lets her body guide the group.

They had been running for minutes, the clapping sound still surrounds them like a fog, haunting them like the fog at a haunted graveyard. Minji starts to loose herself to her thoughts, being chased by him was hard feeling to shake off or just being chased in general. She remembers that one unfortunate day when it had happened. 

Him chasing her and her sisters down the corridors with that horrid smile dawned on his face, hunting them down one by one. Minji ran from behind, protecting her sisters, as they turned left, she turned right. A tint of pride blossomed in her chest as she had successfully mislead him, leaving her sisters room to escape, but this action brought her to her doom. She was cornered, without any windows for her to climb out and escape. She was alone, all by herself, facing him, his evil features burned into her mind, and before she knew it, he…

“Minji…” His voice slurred, bringing her back to the current situation, “I found you.” And the corridor in front of her reduced to pitch black. Then, he was standing in front of her, with the same smile she saw.

Minji screamed, remembering the horror she encountered. In reflex, she gave the monster a harsh uppercut and kick to the stomach, her cold blood pulsing through her veins as her body tried to ground itself, she didn’t even feel the burning sensation on her hand where she had hit him. 

“You can’t run away from me forever,” It’s voice shocks Minji, she hasn’t heard him said anything in the time they were stuck in here.

His voice hoarse, a voice unfamiliar to what Minji had heard in her time of wake, not like the soothing, fatherly, patient tone she felt safe in. It was dangerous, like a predator looking from afar to attack it’s prey in surprise. 

Minji couldn’t stop her tears as she continued to assault the shadowed figure, her breathing picking up and galloping. 

The others didn’t know what to do as they watch the beating unfold. Minji attacking the monster so fast that he didn’t have time to land a comeback.

Yoobin clicks her tongue, and steps in front of the boys. She raises her staff , waving it towards the lamps, like fire emitting from her staff, the lamps started to light one by one, as if a spark bounces from one to another, brightening the darken corridor.

The light in the corridor drastically changes from the state before, the monster hisses as it creeps back to the remaining shadows left in the hallway. “I’ll trap all of you, just you wait.” He grabs Minji’s arm as a warning, burning through her white sweater and making her arm boil, leaving an imprint of his hold on her skin.

Gyehyeon let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Are you ok?” His voice barely making a whisper.

“She’ll be fine in time, come on, lets get going. Keep an eye out for a white corridor, whether it’s a room full of old phones or ticking clocks.” Yoobin says, picking up a sobbing and shaking Minji, slowly rubbing circles in her back and whispering calm words to help return to her normal state.

Before they round the corner, Yoobin looks back at the corridor, suddenly seeing something that reflects the silent glow of the moonlight, back at the spot where the monster retreats. Yoobin halts and outstretches her arm, her making the staff appear still awes the two boys, and with a flick of her staff, the object come floating.

It landed on Gyehyeon’s hand and it sent shivers down his spine.

It was a photo of him trying the fit beneath the sink in their game of Hide and Seek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> small filler but I'll update with another chapter tmr!!  
> also, Happy August everybody


	6. The Maze Keeps Changing

Handong phased through the nth wall within the last hour, trying to find her remaining sisters, though she does want to see Siyeon the most at the moment. Although her ability to phase through walls has come in handy for the most part, doing it constantly puts a strain on her, sometimes even more when she opens her eyes to see everything in the house.

She sighs as this corridor had no signs of her sisters or the lost boys in the house. Handong checked the surround as she twisted the knobs of the lamps to get them to the brightest and pull open the curtains to let the moonlight shine in, she gave a soft smile when she gazes up to the moon. 

Her sisters loved the full moon. Every time the moonshines bright, cuddle together in the living room, under the moonlight they would share no secrets between each other. When they sleep and morning came, their caretaker would always find them all huddled up together, hands interlocked.

But this moonlight is different from when she was still alive and well, this moon shone red, reminding them the horrible bloodshed that costed their lives, and the red flames that consumed the house as it perished into nothing.

She bathed under the warm moonlight for just a second and closed her eyes, letting her eyes trigger her ability. She gasps slightly as her eyes take her around the house.

She sees Minji and Yoobin with two boys, ‘Good,’ she thinks, they had found some of the lost boys, and her eyes wandered again, taking her to see Gahyeon and the rest back at the photo room, safe from him, then see looks for her remaining sisters.

“Aha,” she said with the volume beyond a whisper, she had found Siyeon and Bora with two lost boys. They’re on the second floor, close to the doll room. Handong remembers how to manoeuvre to the doll room, down a floor on the east stairwell, 5 left turns and 2 rights, “Yeah, I’ll remember.”

She then searched for her last sister, Yoohyeon, she furrows her brows in concentration as she speeds through the mansion with hopes that her eyes doesn’t stumble on locating him, though helpful, it would take her a while to calm down. Handong hums as she opens her closed eyes, Yoohyeon was nowhere to been seen. She knows that she can venture beyond the house where Handong’s eyes can’t see, so she makes that conclusion with hopes that she had successfully led a lost boy out of the premise.

Handong takes a deep breath and she marched to the east stairwell, also mentally preparing herself when she encounters him. She knows that physically hurting him can make him have a skip in his step for at most a few hours, she saw Yoobin and Siyeon attacking him on several and separate occasions, and occasionally Gahyeon, so that they can help her sisters escape and make a run for it.

They had never thought that running would be so important.

She and her sisters had made a pact, it is and still beneficial to her sisters. Her sisters with offence abilities, Yoobin and Siyeon, will stay at the back when they are being chased, cognitive abilities, Handong and Bora will lead front, and the neutrals, Minji, Yoohyeon and Gahyeon will stay in the middle and help when they needed to. They were strong, united when they are together, she didn’t know what would happen if they were being picked off one by one, it only happened once which ended in death. But she was appreciative that fate had given her sisters another chance to be together once again.

Handong turns the corners, counting numbers at her heart to remember the map, she can’t use her ability for the time being as it put on a physical strain on her, so she hopes that the mansion would not betray her eyes.

She gave out a smile as she sees her sisters round the corner three at the edge of her eye, ‘Just in case,’ she thinks as she pulls out a small pipe out of her dress pocket and plays a familiar tone, it immediately caught the attention of her two sisters. “Bora unnie, Siyeon unie!” She calls out as she runs to them.

“Handongie!” Bora says happily as she embraces Handong, “We found two of the boys.” Bora points at Minchan and Yeonho, who returned with a small wave and an introduction, “Have you find the others?” 

“I have two lost boys with Gahyeon in the dark room. I saw Minji and Yoobin somewhere around the house, but I can’t see Yoohyeon.” Handong purses her lips, being unable to track down all her sisters gives her a weird feeling

“I saw she took a boy and run, just hope that he made it out.” Siyeon replies.

“Who did she took?” Yeonho asks.  
“I think he was wearing a green vest. But we still don’t know whether did Yoohyeon brought him out of the house.” Siyeon crosses her arms and let out a groan as Minchan and Yeonho looked at each other, puzzled.

“That’s strange, I swear I saw Kangmin when we were playing Marco Polo.”

“The monster,” Handong pipes up, “Went to your friend, Kangmin was it?” The boys nodded, “He had went to him first, thats why I sent Yoohyeon and Siyeon to get him before the monster can get to him.” Her eyes showed a sad expression, “The concept of time and space are weird in here, normal physics do not comply. We were around, looking to fetch you guys when I saw him venturing the house.” 

Then Siyeon grabbed Bora and huddled around Handong, the three sharing whispers that the boys couldn’t pick up.

“Do you think that Kangmin left this place?” Yeonho asks Minchan, “We assume that he left before we ended Hide and Seek, because the last thing I remembered was me finding that wonky tv, Dongheon hyung hasn’t found me yet.”

“I…hope so, yeah.” Minchan tries not to think that, the Kangmin he saw when he was walking through the hallways wasn’t really him, but that…thing. He doesn’t want to tell anyone about this besides Dongheon, and he was afraid that by believing so, he would really convince himself that Kangmin has escaped while his gut tells him otherwise.

“I… When I saw that thing,” Yeonho started, his voice shaking slightly, “I heard it, called out, it screamed, when Siyeon burn the thing. It’s voice,” He took in a shaking breath, “It sounded exactly like Kangmin. Hyung…what if.”

“Let’s not talk about that, I don’t want to think about it.” Minchan cuts him off and softly patted Yeonho’s back, “Lets trust our new friends here that one of them kept him safe.”

Minchan thinks, are the girls really helping them escape the clutches of the black monster chasing them. He can call them allies, companions at most, but friends was really a stretch. What if the girls are deceiving them? What if the girls and the monster are working together to push him and his friends to the brink of insanity? If they are, then they’re doing a good job, Minchan’s mind spins as he tries his best to wrap his fingers around what is actually happening in here.

“Hey,” Bora calls out to the two, “Just so you know, the walls here fools everyone, even us. Only Handong here can actually see where on earth are we and how to help us navigate in this damned place.” She swings her arm over Handong and Handong gave out a shy smile, “But the walls tend to change, treat it like a maze where the walls move every 15 minutes or so.” She waves her hands, “Come on we have to get going.” 

They walked together in silence, Bora’s arms intertwined with Handong’s and Siyeon trailing behind, the two sisters exchanged giggles and smiles, as if they weren’t being hunted down by a shadow monster.

Yeonho didn’t want to bother the two so turned towards Siyeon, “How did you guys end up in here?”

Siyeon’s brows rose for a moment in surprise at such a question, “We live, or well, lived, in here for the most of our lives. And we also died in here, perhaps our souls are trapped with the mansion, that’s why we’re here.” 

Yeonho continued to ask her, “How long ago? How long did you guys get trapped in here?”

Siyeon glanced at the moon, a sad smile greeting the red moonlight, “I told you, we’ve been trapped here for centuries. I believe the only people who actually know this place besides as a haunted house are historians, I tend to think that we’re trapped in here around the time where accusing witches are a thing in Korea.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Our neighbours took the saying ‘Burn the Witch’ too seriously.” 

Then Yeonho stopped asking, feeling bad that his curiosity might lead to bad memories. 

Again, the walls started to shake and the lights flickering. “Not this again,” Siyeon curses as she opens her palm, a small ball of fire appearing in her hand, “If I slow down, don’t wait for me, just keep following Handong and Bora unnie.” She says to the two as the ball starts to grow bigger.

The lights blacked out, leaving them with only the moonlight and Siyeon’s fire illuminating the darken hallway. “Run.” Bora calls out and the group runs. Once they round the corners, Siyeon snaps her fingers and the hallway behind them is lit on fire.

“You want to burn us alive?” Minchan exclaims.

“The house will be fine, you won’t die here.” Siyeon shouts back, her ball of fire growing larger.

Bora has an iron grip on Handong’s arm, “Handongie,” She pleas and Handong nods, she trusts her that she wouldn’t trip and fall, and she closes her eyes.

“Two lefts, three rights, then we’ll be at the South stairwell. Take on floor down, we’ll be by the dark room one corridor down.” Handong hushes out, her eyes hazy and lost. Bora kept her grip on sister and lead the group with Handong’s instructions. 

They kept running, and correct with Handong’s words, they reached the stair well. But they were greeted with clapping.

The monster in front of them started to take a shape of a person, unlike the black shadowy mass the boys saw before, it’s fleshy hands prominent, and they could see the mass tighten around to form legs and what they presume is a tailcoat.

“You can’t outrun me forever, you’ll never escape, no matter how hard you try.” It, he, had spoke, with a voice of authority but the respect was lost between him and the girls.

“Shut up,” Siyeon says with gritted teeth, “You trapped us here in the first place.” Each syllable dripping with hatred, “If you haven’t brought your mistress here, none of this would happen!” She exclaims as she launches a ball of fire toward the shadowy figure.

Siyeon had remembered, her sisters just started their interest in photography, people from neighbouring villages would come to have their pictures taken, all in good nature, her sisters didn’t ask for anything, they just wanted to branch out their interest. Then, one day had come, where he brought in a woman of nobility to have her picture taken.

The sisters welcomed with hospitality and kindness, the woman did look like that she will cause no harm. But she did.

Once Yoohyeon snapped her photo, she collapsed. Her head hitting the hard floor with a thud, a hit to her head. 

The villagers outside peeped through the windows and gasped when they saw Yoohyeon on the floor, the woman had shown no emotions towards the fall, but she gave a sly snicker.

“Oh no! The machine is haunted! Look at what it had done to her! They are using witchcraft! Witchcraft I say, WITCHCRAFT!” She shouted from the top of her lungs, scaring the villagers outside, causing them to run away from the sisters’ mansion. Once all the villagers left the premise of the mansion, and before the sisters can come back to their senses from the shock of Yoohyeon’s fall and the accusations of witchery, they saw him, their caretaker, their father figure, kiss the hand of the woman.

“Splendid, my pet. Absolutely splendid.” She praised him and left as nothing had happened.

Siyeon still remembers that she saw 6 long shadows sprouting from the shadows of her dress, as if she was a hybrid between a human and a spider.

She was the real witch. Not Siyeon and her sisters. The ignorant villagers burnt the wrong people.

He cries as her fire reached him, but he smiled through the flames, “You can’t get away from me. You are all determined to stay in this endlessly, repeating nightmare.” And he retreats to nothing, leaving behind a small pile of ashes.

Before Bora leads the group down the stairs, Handong sees something in the edge of her eyes, “What’s that?” She pointed and Siyeon went to pick it up. 

She shook the object to get rid of the dust and her eyes widen, “Fuck.” she cursed quietly.

In her hands, a photograph, “Do you recognise anyone in here.” She asks the boys.

Minchan and Yeonho looked at the picture, it was just a room with a yellow checkered tablecloth draped over the table. “I have no idea.” Yeonho shakes his head.

“I do,” Says Minchan, “I hid under the table when we played hide and seek.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday to our leader BaeHeonie ~~


	7. And there was no one

Yoohyeon cries out as Kangmin collapses on the floor, his chest not heaving, eyes opened and empty.

He loomed over the boy and showed the picture to Yoohyeon, “I’ll keep this one for myself,” He gave a sinister smile, “In substitute of the one for you.” He chuckled, “You’ll never leave this place, none of you will. You see Yoohyeon,” He grabs her chin and tilts upward so that their eyes meet, “All of you will permanently stay here, trapped in this nightmare.” 

Yoohyeon stares at him with hatred as he conforms his head, into a face. She hasn’t seen his face for centuries, he always hides behind the cloud of shadows and always shows his hands, never his face. Black long bangs that fall like curtains from his hairline, shaping his face, and that annoying monocle that rests on his right eye.

“We’ll leave this place, we’ll end this nightmare. Just you wait.”

“I’ve been waiting for centuries,” He says as he turns his back and started to walk back to the mansion, “I can wait longer. Anything to stay longer with you lot.” He raised his hand to wave back at her, Kangmin’s photo between his fingers.

Yoohyeon looked at the lifeless Kangmin in front of her, they were so close to the gate, so damn close to help at least one of them to escape, ‘He’s even younger than what Gahyeon was.’

And she ran, running towards him, her hand stretched out retrieve Kangmin’s photo from his fingertips. Before he could turn back or hide the photo, Yoohyeon have grabbed an edge of the photo and tugged. “Give it back!” She shouts but he also have a grip on the photo and met her with a stern gaze.

The two are stuck in a tug of war, instead of a thick rope it was a photograph. 

His body started to contort back to a black mass, it’s form growing bigger and bigger, Yoohyeon knows that if he grows too large, he can engulf her entire body, encasing herself into a burning pit of fire, scorching her beyond recognition, though she sometimes think what will happen if they die in this state.

After struggling for a few minutes, Yoohyeon decided to play dirty and kick him in the ribs, causing him to stumble, and causing the photo rip.

Yoohyeon gasps at the ripped piece in her hands, her thoughts taking off, ‘Oh shit…oh shit, did I kill him for good.’

He sees Yoohyeon at a lost state, her eyes didn’t leave the photo, he hissed as he retreated back to the mansion, he too was puzzled, he never had a broken photo before. However he was certain, that in little time, that boy will still be trapped in this place.

The time Yoohyeon returned to her senses, he was gone. She quickly tucked the photo in her pocket and went back to Kangmin. ‘Oh no’s running in her thoughts like a mantra, gears in her mind moving quickly to help her figure a solution to the limp body in her hold.

“Minji unnie, Siyeon unnie,” She nods her head, finally fining an answer to her current problem, “I have to find them, I have to find them.” She repeats to her herself as she pulls Kangmin up, dragging him carefully through the courtyard back to the mansion, making sure that he doesn’t end up in cuts on his feet.

She glances at the moon, shining gracefully onto the ground, bright enough that Yoohyeon can make her way through the darkness. Yoohyeon tries to ignore the boy’s skin freezing up, she needs to keep him warm, someway, then she remembers.

Yoohyeon turns a left and makes her way towards the small opening towards the forest. Her caretakers, and him, know that place, but he is busy hunting down the rest, it’s coldblooded but it gives her time to head to the small garden. 

Another safe haven for her and her sisters, where they played outside and enjoyed the warm sunlight and the green. And always at 3, their maids bring out tea and biscuits, where they also enjoyed the sunlight with the girls, everyone was having a good time. And by nighttime, the maids and workers of the sisters huddle outside, sitting around a small bonfire as they talked about their lives. 

Yoohyeon ventured outside for a few times, in the request of her sisters, to see how did the outside look as time passed. Yoohyeon notices that the grass and the bushes withered, the once flourishing flower garden the chef was so proud of wilted. But only one thing remained there, constant, perhaps one of their servants escaped and seek comfort outside the walls of suffocating and maddening mansion.

“Aha!” After minutes, Yoohyeon saw the small garden, and next to withered tree with the swing, was a small bonfire. It was really small but it was there, the sound of crackling was calm to her ears.

Yoohyeon had set Kangmin by the bark of the tree, his feet almost touching the edge of the bonfire, as she stands up and pats the dust off of her hands. The photo fell out of her pocket and into the fire.

“No!” She shouts, but she was too late, the photo is being nicked away by the small flames little by little.

She drops, defeated. She had failed another soul. First her sisters, then her own, and now Kangmin’s. Yoohyeon was still in shock as she sees the photo disintegrate to nothingness, but she tilts her head at the piece of film and she quickly scatter off to find a branch, or a twig, just something that can fish the film out of the fire.

Yoohyeon found a branch under the picnic table and poked it the fire, before the fire can etch off the wood, she scrapped out the film. She lets a sound of disbelief, the film is still there, not burnt like any piece of paper when enchanted fire. She picked it up and examines it, she doesn’t see Kangmin in the broken piece, instead she sees the outline of a head.

Like a broken piece of a puzzle.

The sound of Kangmin gasping for air sends her relief, “Holy fuck you’re alive.” She says happily as she crouches down and sit nexts to the boy.

“What happened?” He said weekly, “Where are we?”

“Your soul, or whats left of it got sucked into this photo,” Yoohyeon pulls up the film, and continued with enthusiasm as if she just made a ground breaking discover, in which she wasn’t wrong.  
“It accidentally got dropped into the fire and it got burnt.” Kangmin nods, but honestly he doesn’t really know whats going on and Yoohyeon can sense his confusion. “The main point is that, by burning the photos with you, or the photos of your friends if we can find them, we can release your soul from it and you guys can finally leave!” She claps.

“So, we find the photos, burn them, and we leave?” 

“Exactly!” Yoohyeon smiles widely, “Come on, we have to find my sisters and tell them about this.” She pulls Kangmin up, but the boy immediately dropped back to the ground, his body tilting from side to side, “Are you ok?” 

Kangmin feels weak all over, even worse than the fever he got when he played soccer outside with Dongheon that one time under the heavy rain. His eyes can’t focus at anything, he doesn’t feel anything but Yoohyeon’s shaking his shoulder slightly.

“I feel dizzy,” He mutters out weakly, “I feel tired, I can’t even move my legs.” He can feel himself floating, yet he also feels like he’s on a rollercoaster, swaying side to side.

“Then I’ll go, you better stay here and rest.” Yoohyeon suggests, and as she turns from Kangmin, she could feel him tug the end of her sleeve.

“Can you stay?” He looks at her with tired eyes “What if he comes back?”

Yoohyeon’s mouth was left agape, a part of her wants to head back into the mansion and find her sisters to share the information she just found out, the faster her sisters gets hold about this, the faster the boys can escape. But then, she sees Kangmin, he’s right, what if he comes back? What if he takes another photo of him? Only a portion of his soul has returned to his body, if he takes another photo, Yoohyeon will never know what had happened. 

“Noona,” Kangmin murmurs, his eyes hooded, “I’m scared.”

“Ok,” Yoohyeon pats his head and sits by the small bonfire, “I’ll stay.” She gave him a small smile as she sees him doze off.

She looks at the night sky, she hopes that fate could listen and the let the red moonlight protect them, and hope for the stars to guide to wake up from this everlasting night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda soft this chapter, I really like this chapter a lot though it’s short  
> also, Happy Hoyoung & SuA Day~

**Author's Note:**

> also, stream Thunder by Verivery!!!!


End file.
